"One million iPads in 28 days - that's less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone," crowed Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a canned statement.

True that - but Jobs didn't mention that the iPhone 3GS, the current model, topped the one-million mark in three days.

Neither did Jobs provide a breakdown of what percentage of those iPads were the WiFi-only model, which went on sale on April 3, and the WiFi + 3G model, which began shipping to pre-order customers and became available in stores on the last day of the four week period, April 30.

Jobs did, however, throw a bit of cold water in the direction of international fanbois jonesing for their own multitouch window onto the internet: "Demand continues to exceed supply and we're working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers."

The iPad was originally supposed to have shipped to international customers by the end of April, but Apple issued a Media Advisory in mid-April pushing that date back to the end of May, with pricing announced and pre-orders to begin on May 10. In that release, Apple offered the excuse that "demand is far higher than we predicted" - although rumors of production problems continued to circulate.

To be sure, Apple has made no mention of pushing the international release of the iPad back further - and The Reg is not predicting that it will. But with Jobs' warning that demand continues to outstrip supply, we'll be keeping an eye on the iPad's emigration date.

But if you think that Apple is purposefully keeping the iPad on US shores simply to heat up unfulfilled international demand, Steve Jobs thinks you're nuts. ®

Bootnote

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the iPad is a hit among pensioners due to its ease of use, light weight, and easily readable type - great for glaucoma sufferers. The editor of ElderGadget told the Chron: "I don't know if it's a deliberate move by Apple to make a tablet that appeals specifically to seniors, but that's what they did."